The two men seemed to have finished shouting at each other. Dorma was turning his head, clearly on the verge of issuing orders which--just as clearly, from the tension of the knights and the arquebus-armed Schiopettieri standing behind them--no! spreading to the sides, ready to fire--was going to cause all hell to break loose!
Benito was ecstatic. Sure enough! He had a grandstand view!
* * *
Unfortunately . . . so did the four Dandelo retainers who were also perched on the balcony, not more than ten feet away from him. All of them large, angry looking--and armed with cudgels.
* * *
The moment was . . . tense. Benito stared at the Dandelo goons. They stared at him.
What to do? What to do? Two of the Dandelos were starting to move toward him.
Fortunately for Benito, his abrupt arrival had also been noticed by one of the knights standing next to Dorma. The very large one, with a very large voice.
'Hold!' came the bass bellow. Wide-eyed, Benito stared down at him. The very large knight had taken a step toward the balcony, pointing a very large (and armored) finger at the advancing Dandelo goons. 'Hold right there! You men are under arrest!'
The very large and armored finger now pointed imperiously at Benito. 'You have your orders, Knight-Squire Crazykid!' The finger swept back--as imperiously as ever--to the Dandelo goons on the balcony. 'Arrest them! Don't let them escape!'
One of the Dandelo retainers standing not far from the very large knight began to shout some sort of protest. The knight--moving way faster than Benito would have believed he could--slammed a very large and armored fist into the man's face. The Dandelo was flattened instantly. Blood everywhere. Benito wasn't sure, but . . . he thought the blow had broken the man's neck as well as crushed his head.
Knight-Squire Crazykid? Arrest them? Don't let them go?
Fortunately, Benito was no stranger to brazening his way out of jams. He drew his little knife and brandished it like a sword. What the hell. 'Knight-Squire Crazykid'--slurred in that terrible accent--did sound a bit German.
'Stop!' he shouted at the goons on the balcony. 'I'll kill any man who tries to escape!' He took two steps toward them. 'God and the Right!'
Before he got out the last words, an arquebus went off with a roar on the floor below. Then, two more. The four Dandelos on the balcony took off like antelopes. In an instant, they had disappeared up another set of stairs.
Benito looked over the balcony. Both of the Dandelos holding arquebuses were down. One of them clearly dead, his chest a bloody ruin; the other, groaning and holding his side. Blood was pouring through his fingers.
Benito hadn't seen it, but he was sure that the Dandelos had made some threatening move with the firearms and the Schiopettieri had cut loose with their own. Now, with the Dandelos armed with nothing beyond cudgels and edged weapons . . .
Against Knights of the Holy Trinity?!
The stampede was already starting. When the very large knight whipped out his sword and bellowed 'Dia a coir!' the stampede turned into a rout. Dandelo retainers raced out of the entry hall, seeking escape anywhere they could find it.
Most of them made it, but five were corralled by the Knights or Schiopettieri. Angelo Dandelo didn't even get two steps. He tried to make his escape, but the blond knight seized him by the scruff of the neck and drove him to the floor by kicking in the back of his knee. None too gently, with an armored boot.
Benito practically howled with glee. But his pleasure ended abruptly, when he noticed that the very large knight was glaring up at him.
Again, the imperious finger. Again, the booming basso voice.
'You! Come down here!'
Benito danced back and forth. The staircase he'd come down from was just behind him, after all. Benito was sure he could outrun that big knight, especially since he'd have to come all the way from the floor below . . . clanking in heavy armor up a staircase that was at an angle from where Benito was standing on the balcony. . . .
He was sure he could make his escape.
